Subject: MEMO: SHAME ON AMERICA RISING, JUDICIAL WATCH: RIGHT-WING GROUPS CRY FOUL WHEN ATTACKS PROVEN EMPTY
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 11:04:17 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

**

*TO:                        INTERESTED PARTIES*

*FROM:                  CORRECT THE RECORD*

*RE:                       SHAME ON AMERICA RISING, JUDICIAL WATCH:
RIGHT-WING GROUPS CRY FOUL WHEN ATTACKS PROVEN EMPTY*

*DE:                        **WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014*

In a bizarre twist to the anti-Clinton crusades of America Rising and
Judicial Watch, the two organizations today cried foul when their own
investigation into the Clintons’ financial reporting proved everything in
question was done with full disclosure, review, and without conflict of
interest.

So what do right-wing organizations do when their attacks prove empty?
What’s the next step when even a partisan-driven investigation proves
everything was done above board and handled with careful attention to
ethics and procedure?  Cry foul anyway, of course.

“Shame on America Rising and shame on Judicial Watch for yelling ‘fire’
when there isn’t even smoke.  Even a right-wing investigation turned up
that on 215 occasions during Hillary Clinton’s tenure, Bill Clinton and the
Clinton Foundation fully disclosed the details of his business and speaking
arrangements and on all 215 occasions they were without ethical objection
or conflict of interest,” Adrienne Elrod, spokesperson for Correct The
Record, said.  “These folks need something better to do with their time if
all they can do is complain about things going right.”

America Rising, an anti-Clinton organization, promoted, “A joint
investigation by the Washington Examiner and the nonprofit watchdog
group Judicial Watch found that former President Clinton gave 215 speeches
and earned $48 million while his wife presided over U.S. foreign policy,”
today.

According to the report today, “Under State Department protocols, a
‘designated agency ethics official’ is assigned to advise the secretary of
state about ‘potential or actual conflicts of interest;’” and after
thorough reviews, no conflicts of interest were found.

In fact, a December 12, 2008, memorandum of understanding was entered into
between the Clinton Foundation and the Administration, setting up a
thorough disclosure and review process to “not create conflicts or the
appearance of conflicts” of interest “for Senator Clinton as Secretary of
State.”  That memo has been publicly available for six years.

And the big scoop?  The protocols worked. Conflicts and the appearance of
conflicts were avoided.

Shame on you, America Rising and Judicial Watch, for spinning the facts.

BACKGROUND:
*Judicial Watch is “a tenacious political opponent that launched countless
probes of the Clinton administration.”* “On Thursday, Judicial Watch, a
tenacious political opponent that launched countless probes of the Clinton
administration, fired its latest legal salvo, nearly a decade after Clinton
ended his second term. The group filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in
the District against the National Archives and Records Administration,
saying it should maintain and release the tapes under the Presidential
Records Act.” [Wapo, 10/28/10
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/28/AR2010102805621.html>
]

*At one point, Judicial Watch was suing the Clinton administration on 18
separate matters. *“Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh billionaire whose
foundations have bankrolled an array of anti-Clinton activities, gave one
of his largest grants last year to Judicial Watch, the conservative group
suing the Clinton administration in 18 separate matters, newly released
records show.” [Washington Post, 6/10/98
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/klayman061098.htm>
]